For the Love of a Daughter

Chapter One

The moonlight was dimly shining through the canopy of trees outside of my room. It was well past midnight, but the air was still warm from the summer air. The crickets softly chriped from the distance, with a slight wind slowly blowing the trees. The house was silent, besides the scratch of my pencil upon my paper. I was sitting in my bed, with my lamp illuminated beside me. My coloring materials layed out all around me. I was simply drawing an abstract painting, just letting my mind wander aimlessly.

Every now and then I would get a text from a close friend, asking if I'm alright. Only a few people know what I actually deal with. The rest see my fake smile plastered across my face, along with a hint of love every now and then. They like to check on me every now and then, since school's out I've been having to deal with my family more. They barely let me out of the house, leaving me no choice but to be locked in my room.

My brother likes to bug me so much, he will never leave me alone, like an average brother, but he isn't as average. His favorite thing to do is annoy my family, especially me. He's a tough guy, y'know? He likes to wrestle with my father as well, which only makes him stronger. When he gets mad, he gets too mad. It's almost as if he has anger issues, yet, he doesn't. For example, if he is annoying me and he will be too close, which I hate when people get too close to me, my first instinct is to push him away. His first instinct? To bring pain to me. He will hit me as hard as he can, which is pretty hard. And my reaction? Numbness in half of my body.

My father is a drunkard. He has been my whole life. He also is a smoker, filling both his lungs and my family's lungs with cigarette smoke. The air I breathe isn't great air. And with pollution filling the air too, it make it worse. I've counted the beer bottles and cans that I've found around my house when I'm left alone. I pray it's not new ones every week, but knowing his addiction, I shouldn't get my hopes up. If I counted all the bottles and cans from when I was born, which was only 12 years ago, it would be well over 5000. I'm a pig when it comes to eating. Since I barely get to eat food while at my own home, when I'm out in public I try to eat as much as I can.

I'm always asked why I'm so skinny when I eat so much, but truth be told, when I'm out with friends is one of the only times I get a full decent meal. I don't get to play year-round sports like most kids , we don't have the time and money to let me.

Did I mention that my father doesn't have a license? Well he doesn't, he doesn't have a car either. He lost them both, due to his horrid addiction. That addiction to his alcohol had basically ruined my entire life. I try to fit in at school, but most of the time they will talk about things I can't do. They will talk about things I don't get because it's stuff we can't exactly afford to have.

I classify myself as poor. Many other people wouldn't, but this is my opinion. We've never had the most money, just a little over enough to survive. We've been kicked out of 2 houses due to not being able to afford living there.

A single tear rolled down my cheek thinking about this. I brushed it off and continued on my abstract art, my walls covered with drawings and paintings already. A night like this is one of my favorite nights. It's peaceful in the house and peaceful outside. "Tonight is beautiful," I breathed.

My phone started buzzing quietly, indicating someone is calling me. I grabbed my phone and walked out onto my small roof outside my window. I shut the window behind me.

"Hello?" I whispered to the person on the other line.

"Hey girl," I recognized the voice as my friend Justin. "Go out front."

"Justin, seriously? I'm sitting on my roof right now thank you very much," I laughed quietly.

"Outside of your room?" He asked, and I could his feet shuffling.

"Well, let's see. It's 3:25 am, I'm just sitting on the very top of my house right now," I said sarcastically, "Yes outside of my room."

A few seconds later I heard someone quietly whispering a psst from below me. I looked over the edge of the area I was sitting on top of, only to see my best friend standing down there, looking up and waving at me.

"How did you even sneak out?" I asked, stealthily climbing down the side of the house.

"Well, everyone is asleep and I'm stealthy." He said with a grin. I chuckled and jumped off the side of the house.

"I only have about an hour, I don't wanna get caught." I said to him, taking out my phone to double check the time. "Let's just go up," I said, pointing up to the tree above us. The tree wasn't tall. Actually, it was the perfect height to climb. I started to climb after Justin, and in a short minute we were both sitting across eachother, lying across the perfectly arranged branches. I looked up through the holes in the leaves, which showed the stars perfectly. The moon peaked out of the side, laying the light across the town beautifully.

"Why am I always the one to get you outside at 3:30 in the morning?" Justin asked, laughing slightly while asking.

"I don't know, maybe becuase the few other friends I have are wimps? Won't stay up so long?" I grinned, looking at him. He chuckled slightly, turning to look back at me. He smiled, and turned his eyes back to the sky.

"I never see you with those 'girlfriends"," He said quietly, "Why don't you ever hang out with a lot of girls?"

"They aren't my type, too girly, y'know? And don't forget drama, I'd hate having to deal with that." I sighed, looking at the sky once again. "I already have enough on my hands." I breathed.

"I know, but you're strong. Those girls should respect you." Justin said, patting my hand slightly. "You're the strongest girl I've ever met. And the strongest I will ever meet." He added, emphasizing the 'ever'.

"Oh be quiet." I laughed, hitting his shoulder playfully.

"What? It's true!" He laughed along, hitting mine gentley.

For about an hour we talked exactly like that, just joking and playing. It's what we always do.

"I have to go, you should too. It's 4;35 am, and its a work day, your parent'll be up soon." I told Justin, getting up to climb down the tree trunk. He followed closely behind.

"I don't wanna go back though," He groaned.

"Quit whining, I'll text you." I told him, pulling out my phone and waving it.

"Fine." He huffed, hugging me goodbye. It's our usual thing, some people think we are dating. I call this half-dating. You act exactly like a couple, yet, you aren't dating. I just find it better than actually dating.

"Talk to you in a bit." I whispered in his ear, and pulled away. I waved him goodbye and started to climb up the small bumps in the side of the hell of a home. I arrived at the top and saw Justin walking down the dead end street towards his house thats a couple houses down. I turned back and opened my window and climbed through the small opening. I crawled in and went back to my art. It soothed me in many ways, some ways better than others. Art and music were some of my only joys in life. They get rid of the bad things that happen and replace them with happy memories.

Slowly, I drift off to sleep. The warm summer breeze blowing through my open window sends a sense of refreshness through the air. It sends me into a deep sleep as the sun slowly peaks up over the horizon.

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A/N: This story is the first real story I'm attempting to write. And I'm not going to just write and have no one read it as well, so, if I get 5 votes 5 comments on this chapter, I will write the next one, and add more to each chapter. I want this to be a good story that people will actually read, and not one just taking up space on Wattpad. Thank you for reading

XxGalinaxX